And, in a blink, its almost October

Wow!  September flew by!  We have enjoyed getting to know new routines at the kids' school and are starting to get into a comfortable routine of after school activities.  Although, I joke that Chet will be taking dance with Elsa to simplify the activities!  I don't know how y'all with more than 2 kids do it!
Between me teaching 3rd grade Catechism, two nights of dance (Ballet/Tap and Hippity Hop), and cello lessons, the week is full!

In the midst of the chaos, we had a great month!!

My practice holds an annual golf outing and we had such an awesome foursome!!  More emphasis was put on FUN than the scramble.  We may or may not have calculated our score correctly!

When I moved to Green Bay, I started the Greater Green Bay Women's Dental Society.  We meet monthly from September until May.  We do a mixture of professional and social gatherings.  This month, we went to the A.R.T Garage and had art instruction.  Let's just say I won't be quittin my day job!!  My print looked like I gave the paint brush to Chet!!  The first picture is what we were supposed to paint….

 My pallete…don't they make green paint??!!

 Progress was being made….but I won't even take a close up of the final result.

Olaf is getting SO big and starting to come around!!  Next time I want to get a dog, remind me to get a 2 year old dog!  This puppy thing is not for me!  But, he is so darn cute!

 We made time for a date night.  Aaron won the championship for his golf league so I made him take me out for dinner.

I am starting to pursue my Foundational Catechetical Certification.  Involves 60 hours of training (10 hours for each of 6 components).  I am starting with the Bible component.  Four hours down, 6 to go :)

 We recieved an update about Elsa and Chet's season Packer tickets.  In January, they were 108,383.  At this rate, they may get tickets by the age of 60.

 A candid shot of them playing in the hearth room while I finish cleaning up from breakfast

 We went to a Packer game with one of my besties and her husband.  I love living close to them!

 Elsa loves to show us what she learned at school and she is always asking to do "homework"

 And, Chet wanted to participate.  Notice this is his smile face.

 Note the smile face of Chet.  Maybe one of these days he will actually cooperate for photos!

 Elsa LOVES getting dressed for school.  With the uniform, we have eliminated the battles in the morning over what to wear.

We had a friend over to play and we baked cupcakes!

 They certainly love their dog!!

 Elsa loves Cello and dance!  And sometimes doing both together. Note the dance costume!

 Chet does NOT like bedtime!

 I created a job chart for the kids and so far, so good on doing their jobs.  I have a monthly calender that I put stickers on if they do their jobs.

 And, the biggest accomplishment of the month is Aaron learning how to do a girls hair!!  I often have to leave before the kids are up in the morning and Elsa often goes to school looking like she just rolled out of bed.

But, after A LOT of instruction, Aaron mastered doing her hair.  Okay, a small pony tail undo.  We still have to work to do on a  big pony tail, but I was pretty darn proud of him.  

 Now, if  only I can find a way to master the mound to paper work these two kids bring hone each day.!!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

I hadn't been home to visit my family since April and, looking at our fall schedules, was going to be a while unless I went and visited this weekend.

My sister's inlaws have been on a 3 month holiday from New Zealand, traveling throughout Canada and the US, and were going to schedule a stop with my parents that same weekend.  They are a fun couple so I was excited to see them too.

My sister, Hilary, was nice enough to let us stay at her house since one of the guest bedrooms was being used and the other still not set up since their move.  Elsa and Chet had so much fun swimming, playing with their cousins, and seeing Grandma and Grandpa.

The kids were very entertained with peeling the husk off of the corn!

They had fun filling the water guns and getting their cousin Jackson wet!

Chet was obsessed with looking into the skimmer!!

And then the fun ended.  Sunday we woke up and went out for breakfast with my sister and her family and Chet was acting a little out of sorts.  When we returned back, he felt warm.  I took his temperature and it was 102!  Poor little guy!  He wanted to cuddle all day.  We ended up making the decision to return to Green Bay on Sunday rather than stay in Mankato until Monday so he could rest.

Fortunately, his fever broke at 5am at 103….and, he was back to his spunky self!

New School, New Year!

The month of June brought many changes!  Elsa graduated from preschool and was looking forward to Kindergarten.  She (and us) had made many friends at the school.  And, then….we got a letter stating our beloved school was abruptly closing its doors the following day.  This left us out A LOT of money and scrambling to find a new education for both of our kids.  The bar was set high!  But, fortunately, after much prayer, we decided to enroll Elsa at our parochial school.  Unfortunately, Chet isn't quite three, so we enrolled him for the year at a new Montessori, which some of the staff from his old school are at.  

I was an emotional mess for a few weeks after we found out about the closure.  I was mad that we paid in full not being told of any financial problems with the school.  I was sad at the education our children were going to miss out on.  And, I mourned the loss of community we had at the school.  But, we slowly started meeting new families through Church that send their kids to the new school and developed NEW friendships and a NEW sense of community.  

Elsa took the news of the school closure quite well.  But, she did not quite understand that the friends she made were not going to be at the new school.  Fortunately, she met some friends through Vacation Bible School and we talked about the new school A LOT, emphasizing how much fun it is to make new friends.  The only down side of her new class is that there are only four girls (in her class of 14), but that doesn't seem to bother her.  

Chet is so excited about being a big boy!  He is now sleeping in a big boy bed after proving he is quite the little escape artist from our crib.  And, oh man, did I forget about the challenges of sleep training in a "big bed"!  He is one stubborn kid when it comes to falling asleep!  Here is a pic of the kids testing out the new bed!

 We had an open house last week at his new school and he was so excited!  So much so that yesterday he walked around the house all afternoon wearing his new spider man back pack!  He kept saying "Let's go!"  I felt like I broke his heart when I had to tell him "Not today."  He even watched TV with his back pack on.

He woke up this am and immediately put on his back pack.  So cute!

These next photos crack me up!  It is difficulty to get Chet to cooperate for photos!  I loved the faces he was making!

Proving they do love each other…sometimes :)

Elsa wanted a picture showing their backpacks.

 First, we dropped Chet off.  He insisted on walking in by himself.  I do realize the back pack is almost the same size as him.  But, let me tell you, he threw an epic sized tantrum in Target when I suggested he get the same exact back pack in a smaller size.  Its all about picking battles (and not shopping during nap time!)

When we took him to his classroom, we immediately ran in and started playing.  I had to call him back to give us a hug/kiss.  I felt good leaving him since he was so happy!  Next, it was off to Elsa's school.  She has to wear a uniform that consists of navy skirt/shorts/pants/jumper or a white plaid option.  It can be worn with shirts of light blue, navy, red, or white colors.   I LOVE having uniforms!!  I have all the uniforms hanging on the lower rack of her closet and she loves picking out what she is going to wear the next day.  The other thing I am loving is a school lunch!!  The other school didn't have one and packing a lunch just added chaos to the mornings (even despite my efforts to pack the night before).

Her new teacher!!  I love her already!  I am so excited to see everything she learns.

No tears at drop off for kids or mom!  We were quite proud of ourselves.  The kids LOVED the first day of school!  Elsa said her favorite part was making new friends and going to music class.